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SPEECH 



OF 



HON. ELIJAH BABBITT, 

. Of Pennsylvania, 

ON THE 

CONFISCATION OF KEBEL PPiOPERTY. 



DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MAT 22, 1S62. 



The House having under consideration the bills to confiscate the property and free from 
servitude tlie slaves of rebels, Mr. BABBITT said : 

Mr. Speaker: The gigantic rebellion which the mad ambition of unprin- 
cijiled, de.sperate men has instigated against this, most just and beneficent Gov- 
ernment that ever blessed the earth, has cast upon this Congress questions of 
higher magnitude, of greater ditHcultj, and more motnentous in their conse- 
quences than has fallen to the lot of any other Congress that ever assembled 
under our Constitution. It has introduced a derangement of our national 
organization threatening such disaster to the people and to our governmental 
unit}' as the great architects of o\ir Constitution, wise as they wei'e, could by 
no possibility have foreseen ; or, if suggested to any of those sagacious and far- 
seeing minds, the possible occurrence of such a great and causeless rebellion 
would have seemed to require the existence of such unreasoning madness in a 
majority of the people of whole States as could have gained no particle of cre- 
dence with them, because they knew that in the freedom of frequent elections 
they h.lrl provided a peaceful remedj'^ for the redress of all those evils which 
under despotic governments can be redressed only by the bloody remedies of 
rebellion and revolution; and therefore the framers of our Constitution made 
no provision expressly with a view to the suppression of such an astounding 
attempt at national suicide. That on questions of such difficulty and magni- 
tude, so forced upon us without the aid of any express provision in the Consti- 
tution, or any precedent to guide us, there should be diversity of opinion 
among loyal men is naturally to be expected. Indeed, it would be very extra- 
ordinary if such diveisity did not exist; and hence its existence should be 
treated with deference, and- should on no occasion lead any one to impugn or 
question the motives or patriotism of those who maintain opinions conflicting 
with his own on the questions thus presented. 

There is, however, in this connection one great and vitally important ques- 
tion, rising so high above all others as to serve as a stand-point from which the 
others m.ay be correctly scanned, on which, I think, all loj-al men, of whatever 
party antecedents, should and probably do agree ; and that question is, shall 
we, regardless of whatever treasure r.:i 1 blood it may cost loyal Union men 
whatever time it may consume, and wluitever calamity and ruin it may brine 
Xipon hardened and unrepenting traitors, maintain this Union, the Union ol'our 
fathers, in its entirety, one and inseparable forever? I, Mr. Speaker, answer 
this question absolutely and unconditionally in the affirmative, and 1 believe 
all loyal men should accord to it the same answer. I hold that this war should 
be prosecuted with unrelaxing energy by every means which God and nature 



0- 



2 -<L\\ 



V 



and the rules of civilized warfare have placed at our disposal, till every parti 
cle of this great treason shall be exterminated. 

No citizen, sir, can more deeply deprecate this bloody and destructive con- 
flict than myself, or more ardently long for a return of the halcyon days of 
peace, but my mind is indubitably impressed with the conviction that the en- 
tire crusliing out of evei-}' vestige of this causeless, wicked, and murderous re- 
bellion is an absolute necessity to the restoration and preservation of peace. 
There can be no peace without it. If, through our own hesitancy to use the 
most energetic and efficient means of suppressing this rebellion, we shall allow 
it to attain any final success, however limited, the prestige and charm of the 
Union is gone, and there can be no peace thereafter. A hollow truce there 
might be, but it would be merely a prelude to war. Anj' sevei'ance of the 
Union under any circumstances would constitute a precedent fraught with the 
direst evils. Under its baleful influence disappointed ambition, \>y stirring up 
and intensifying sectional jealousies, would accomplish other and successive 
severances. Wars would inevitably ensue between the sections of the thus dis- 
severed Union, and the land would be desolated till its wretched and impover- 
ished inhabitants would find their onl}' relief in becoming the colonial vassals 
of some of the leading foreign despotism. The only means by which peace can 
be restored and preserved is that of restoring the undisputed rule of this one, 
rightful, national Government over every foot of territory which, at the com- 
mencement of this foul and wicked rebellion, constituted the United States of 
America. In its unity there is glory, honor, and prosperity; in its severance 
there is degradation, desolation, and death. The rights of small, feeble nations 
are but tlie scoff, contempt, and prey of the powerful. Their Governments can 
accomplish no great object. They seldom produce distinguished or prominently 
useful men. ^ 

If, as alleged by secessionists, there exist between the different sections of 
this Republic conflicting interests, habits, and nianners, so much greater the 
necessity of modifying and restraining their operation by the genial influence 
of one just and beneficent Government, such as that of tlie United States has 
ever been, extending over the whole, and repressing the feuds of each. AH 
history proves union, and not severance, to be the true policy. England, Scot- 
land, and Wales, differing in interests, habits, ai.d manners, were, while under 
separate Governments, perpetually at war. United under one Government — 
still differing as before — they have found perpetual peace. Tlie same may be 
observed in regard to the Saxon heptarchy ; and the early histories of Italy, 
Greece, and many other regions teach us the same lesson. 

The voices of the v,'ise and good, the friends of freedom and progress 
throughout the civilized world will, with one accord, proclaim that of this Re- 
public — the world's last and greatest hope of political liberty — there must 
never be a severance. Let us respond : No, never. Tlie same glorious old flag 
must and, God permitting, shall continue to wave over the whole old Union, 
from the sources of the Mississippi downward to the Gulf of Mexico; from the 
shores of the Atlantic away over the Alleghany, the Rocky, and the Nevada 
mountains, to the great Pacific; and from the St. Lawrence and the lakes to 
the Rio Grande. 

Having thus, Mr. Speaker, attempted to show that an overwhelming neces- 
itj' exists for the preservation of this Union in its entii-ety, cost what it may, 
I come to the consideration of the means of accomplishing it, at the least cost 
•of treasure and blood to Union men. In the adoption of measures I would 
'■scrupulously regard the rights and interests of lo^al men everywhere. And 
if, from theit nature, these could not bt' fully protected, I would have the Gov- 
ernment make ample compensation. But I would adopt the most certain and 
efficient means for the salvation of this last resting place of liberty on earth, 
regardless of the calamities or the meiited punishment it might bring on those 
persistent traitors, who are utterly regardless of all rights of loyal men, and, 
wherever they have the powei^ inflict upon them such savage barbarities as 
would call a blush of shame to the cheeks of any other savages but themselves. 
And here I am compelled by my settled convictions to say that, in my opinion, 
one of the most efficient means of speedily crushing out the rebellion and priS- 
serving the Union would be the adoption of measures upon the basis indicated 



ZSh 



in the bill before \is, for freeing from servitude the slaves of persistent rebel mas- 
ters. I arn ready to vote for the adoption of some such measure as a hona 
jide military necessity for the preservation of the Union, and not as warring 
against State institutions. I would have it affect no loyal State, and would 
have it so guarded that it could work no pecuniary loss to any loj-al citizen ; 
or, if any loyal citizen should unavoiilably suffer loss, I would have remunei'a- 
tion provided. In addition to its being a military necessity, I think the mea- 
sure commendable as inflicting a just, but inadequate, punishment on the 
rebels for the terrible iniquity of instigating and persisting in a rebellion so 
uttei'ly causeless, godless, and bloody ; a rebellion which has sent desolation, 
rapine, and murder broadcast over the land ; has sent bitter mourning into 
tens of thousands of heretofore happy and joyous dwellings, from which evan 
nov^ the wail of ten thousand widows and orphans, left destitute, is moving 
heaven and earth for the punishment of these murderers of their husbands and 
their fathers. 

It is said that our brave men in arms are able to put down this rebellion 
■without resorting to the aid or liberation of slaves. This ma}' be so. Bat at 
the same time I believe the proposed measure would utterly exterminate the 
rebellion at incomparably less cost and in fewer months than it might take of 
years if we should not adopt it. The slave system, unassailed, is the great ele- 
ment of lebel power. In it, as in the locks of Samson, lies the secret of their 
great strength. Slave labor feeds and clothes their armies, sujiplies them with 
all the munitions and means of war. Slave labor sustains the aged atid in- 
firm, the women and children, leaving every able-bodied adult white male 
with nothing to do but fight for the overthrow of the Union. Shorn of this 
institution, rebeldom would be as powerless as was Samson shorn of his locks 
in the lap of Delilah. These slaves, composing nearly half the population of 
the cotton States, are, I believe, about the only true Union men now to be 
found there. They are now, on compulsion, helping the rebellion. But they 
would, on«> and all, gladly and rapidly come over to our side and help us if we 
•would let them, if we would promptly, distinctlj-, and without reservation,- 
aflford tliem facilities for so doing. I think the time has arrived, and we have 
reached a point in this great war, when we should emploj- them on our side, 
and grant them freedom as a boon for faithful assistance, if they are willing to 
render it. I would employ, them, sir, not to commit devastation, rapine, and 
murder, as it has been most falselj' assumed they would if set free. But I 
would employ them to render the same service to us, for pay, that they have 
heretofore rendered for rebels on compuUion ; and I would free them because 
it is right. That they would commit any of those imagined outrages, there is 
not the slightest probability. Ever}' fact, act, au'l circumstance connected 
with their conduct towards their masters in this war prove them to be, of all 
people on earth, the most docile and least vindictive. In no instance have any 
of theni manifested the slightest disposition to avenge their wrongs. Peaceably 
to obtain their freedom seems to be the absorbing desire of their hearts. Be- 
sides, if we use them in this war, or if we do not, they will be always under 
the control of our armies, or our Army officers, and would not be suffered to 
commit anj' of the imagined outrages which are the mere chimeras of guilty 
consciences. 

The contest in which we are engaged is a terrible and bloody war, which 
requires the use of every means at our command, and this among the rest, as 
a controlling military necessity. The hot season is even now u))on us, the 
summer solstice i-aj'idlj- approaches. Is there no danger in this. There is im- 
minent f>eril! "We should garrison our southern forts and militaiy stations in 
part with blacks without delay. The peril of exposing our brave armies to the 
dead!}' malaria of southern swamps is appalling. Think of the devastation of 
the yellow fever or cholera ! Even now rebel traitors are gloating with in- 
fernal glee over the by them anticipated sickening and dying of tens of 
thousands of our brave northern soldiers from the malign influence of the 
southern climate. 

It is objected that, in all the regions beyond our actual militaiy possession, 
the slaves would, by their rebel masters, be prevented from leaving them or 
joining us, and thus the measure be rendered of no efi'ect. I answer that the 



slaves, constituting near half the entire population of the cotton States, and 
being informed, as they soon would be — for no surveillance could keep it from 
them — that under the stars and stripes they would certainly find freedom — the 
great absoibing desire of their souls — it would require the attention of all the 
ai'mies of all rebeldom to prevent the exodus of its slaves, and tlius leave to 
them no time to fight against the Union. Or, if they should still attempt to 
fight, each soldier would have to hold a negro by the throat with one Dand 
while fighting against the Union with the other. Only adopt the measure ia 
earnest, and the slaves will come in flocks to our side. Nothing can prevent 
them. And it would be equally as effective in extinguishing the rebellion as 
would be the magic power in us of causing the teams, provisions, and munitions 
m war of the enemy, to leave them and come to us of their own volition. It 
would be Aladdin's lamp in our hands. It would work like magic in over- 
whelming Ihf rebel oligarchy; and the loss would fall mainly, if not wholly, 
on the rebel leaders. For in the cotton States they are the slave owners. 
Why it is that we should persist in keeping loyal slaves subject to disloj^al 
masters, to our own great and incalculable injury, surpasses my comfirehension. 

But now,'Mr. Speaker, let us consider what the prospect is of speedily exter- 
minating this great and dangerous rebellion without a resort to the measure 
indicated. I know the indomitabel bravery of our soldiers. I know that they 
have strong arms and willing hearts, and probably would ultimately accom- 
plish the object. But how long will it take? And what untold millions is it 
yet to cost us ? How much more of the blood of our best men is to be poured 
out like water? How many more loving hearts to be wrung with inconsolable 
grief, in order that we may keep our friends in the service of our enemies? 
Sir, r would rather bankrupt and beggar every bloody-minded traitor in the 
seceded States, than have the blood of one more brave loyal citizen unneces- 
sarily shed. 

But let us see what means of prolonging this bloody war will be left to the 
traitors if we are weak enough to protect them in the use of their slaves for 
that purpose. Passing Virginia and Tennessee, as being nearly reconquered, we 
find the rebellion still rampant in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louis- 
iana, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, and Texas. Though we hold pos- 
session of some important points, of limited territorial extent, in most of 
these States, yet all in them beyond our pickets, is still in open and defiant 
rebellion. These States contain a population of nearly seven millions, and 
cover a territory about equal in extent ts that of all the loyal States. The re- 
gion is exuberantly productive of provisions and all the raw materials neces- 
sary to the support of armed men. The march of our armies over it may be 
greatly obstructed, not alone by rebels in arms, but also by a topography so 
abounding in woods, ravines, hills, morasses, mountains, creeks, and rivers, and 
so destitute of good roads and bridges, as to render it peculiarly adapted to a 
system of guerilla warfare and defence. When we advert to our revolution- 
ary history, and see that our fathers numbered^but three millions — that Eng- 
land greatl}' excelling them in meii and means, blockaded all our ports, had 
possession of most of our cities, and marched her armies inland through most 
of the States, and yet, after eight years of warfare, was fain to withdraw from 
the contest ; and when to this we add the danger of foreign interposition, if the 
contest ia not speedily closed, we may better appreciate the danger incurred in 
refusing to adopt the proposed effective measure with promptitude. It is well 
to reflect on what may be the cost of rejecting it. The reducing to order of six 
to seven millions of united rural people, occupying such extensive territory, and 
determined on resistance to the last, is a very difScult matter. History records 
few, if any instances, where it has been eft"ected ; but it records no instance 
where, if as eft'ectually divided, as it is perfectly in our power to divide the popu- 
lation of the southern confederacy, it has not been a matter easily accomplish- 
ed. Whj' should we persist in endeavoring to accomplish it in the most difii- 
cult way? We have thus persisted in it one whole year, and the task is not 
accomplished. It has cost us about one thousand millions of dollars, for most 
of which we are in debt. How much more indebtedness are we willing to incur 
rather thau to deprive rebels of the use of their slaves in carrying on thei? 

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J^3 J 



•wicked war for the overthrow of the Government,' whose rule they have felt 
onlj- in its benefits and blessings, as the earth feels the dews of heaven. 

And now a few words in regard to the bill confiscating the property of those 
who have been leaders in this rebellion. I am in favor of its general features. 
It may need some small modifications. It is eminently just to provide a fund 
from the sale of the effects of those who have been the active instigators of 
this unholy war, towards the payment of its expenses. Wherever they have 
had the power, they have despoiled loyal men of their property without mercy. 
I think a portion of the fund thus raised should be ajipropriated to reimbursing 
to loyal men the losses thus sustained. The bill very propeily distinguishes 
between the leaders in this rebellion and those whom they have deceived ; and 
pi'oposes, in the first instance, to confiscate the properly of the leadors only. 
Thi» is lenient, and right. Tens of thousands have taken part in this rebellion 
because their respective States commanded them to do so; and they saw that 
the United States Government was in no position to be jible to protect tKem if 
they refused to obey. Such should not be deprived of theii' projiertj', and will 
not be so deprived unless the}- persist in their treason for sixty days after being, 
bj' the President's proclamation, warned to desist. 

But it is said, these severe — I think them lenient — measures will exasperate 
the rebels, render them more determined and malignant, and thus protract, in- 
stead of shortening the war. To this I suggest, for the benefit of those to whom 
this idea seems to be a stumbling-block, tliat as these penalties oidy touch the 
leaders, it is onl}- they who would become thus more exasperated and nialig- 
iiant. These are the slaveholdeis, and persons who, holding oflices under the 
United States, betrayed their trust, and deserted to the enemy, and officers 
under the rebel government — peihaps some four hundred and fifty thousand 
altogether — being mostly slaveholders. These, deprived of their slaves, could 
not do much haitn, however great their malignance might be. Besides, the 
idea tliat these maj' become more malignant in their hatred of the Union and 
Un'on men than they now are, is supposing them to possess a capacity for ma- 
levolence so high that no being but Satan has ever reached it. 

But it is objected to these bills, and all similar ones, that they are violations 
of the Constitution, Let it be shown that this is so, and I will not support 
them. I, 2vlr. Speaker, stand b}' the Constitution in its letter and its spirit, 
just as our fatliers made it and understood it I have sworn to support it, and 
will vote for no act, whatever the suj)posed necessitj% violative of its provis- 
ions. We sit here, sir, and pei'form valid acts of legislation solely by virtue 
of the Constitution. It is our warrant of attorney to act for and in behalf of 
our constituents. Beyond it and without it we have no more power than any 
other congregation of citizens convened of their own motion ; and our acts 
would be of no more binding obligation than would those of such voluntary 
congregation, except that there would be a presunijition that Congress, assum- 
ing to act in its official capacity, was acting within tlie pale of its constitutional 
power, till the contrary should clearly ajipear. The existence of war, sir, can- 
not enlarge our constitutional powers, though it may call into action existing 
powers which but for the war would be dormant. The same is equally true 
in regai'd to liie executive and judicial departments of the Government. It is 
with regret that I sometimes hear thrown out in this Hall the idea tliat the 
perils of war nut}' warrant the exercise of unconstitutional pi wer ; that the 
public safety is the supreme law. Sir, there exists no legitimate power in 
any department of this Government but by virtue of the Constitution ; and 
the public safety- can be secured only by the observance of its provisions, which 
are sufiiciently ample for the purpose. 

But I do not see anything in these bills that infiinges upon the Constitution. 
The only provision or clause in the Constitution which seems to give even the 
color of plausibility to the assumption of unconstitutionality is that which 
provides "that no attainder of treason shall work coDuption of Vtlood, or for- 
feiture, except during the life of the person attainted." Now, sir, to be at- 
tainted of treason, in the sense intended in this clause, is to be convicted thereof 
by a court and jury; the penalty whereof had ever been death. Tiie framers 
of the Constitution seem to have thought this a sufficient penalty, without the 
addition of absolute forfeiture of estate. But as this bill proposes a proceeding 



in rem against the property, of the rebel, to -which no personal penalty is at- 
tached, it comes by no sound rule of construction within the prohibition. And 
here iet me observe that if, as contended, the only way in which we can pun- 
ish any of the leaders in this great, and terrible treason is through a conviction 
of treason by coiirt and jury, then they must, one and all, go forever unwhip- 
ped of justice, because the Consiitution provides that the ti-ial in such case 
shall be by ajiny of the State and district within which the treason was com- 
mitted ; where to expect to obtain a conviction would be the very climax of 
absurdity. In nearly all the districts where acts of treason have been commit- 
ted it would be impossible to empanel a jury that would not contain persons in 
complicity with ti'aitors. In most instances nearly' the whole panel would be 
of that stamp. The clause in tlie Constitution which declares that "no person 
shall be deprived of his property but by due process of law," is relied on, but 
does not conflict with this bill, the proceeding under which would be by due 
procc«3 of law, just as are the proceedings i7i rem against properly forfeited by 
our revenue laws, and various other proceedings of like kind. 

But I deem it waste of time. Mr. Speaker, to examine and refute in detail 
all the critical objections which the opponents of these bills predicate upon 
the Constitution ; because they are all based upon the ei'roneous idea that the 
rebels can claim for their property all the safeguards which the Constitution 
has thrown around that of loyal citizens. I deny that they have a right to 
interpose any such claim any more than would the subject of any foi-eign na- 
tion with which we might be at war. How stands the case? We behold, sir, 
some millions of men, having an organized government, ruling with absolute 
sway over a territory larger than that of two or three of tlie first class nations, 
of Europe, having an army of several hundred thousand men, claiming to be 
an* independent nation, denying all allegiance to the Government and Constitu- 
tion of the United States, 'carrying on a fierce and bloody war for the over- 
throw of both. How is it, sir, that any man acknowledging allegiance to this 
belligerent power, and aiding in its unjust and wicked purposes, a self-acknowl- 
edged subject of a governmental organization at war with this Union, can 
claim any of the protections which our Constitution has so beneticientlj' thrown 
around the property of loyal cifizens who ackbowledge its obligatory force on 
themselves? I pronounce the claim as wholly unfounded, and as contrary to 
the principles of national and municipal law as it is to the principles of equity 
and common sense. The rebel claims to be a subject of a rejjubiic called the 
confederate States. The confederate States are at war with the Unittd States. 
He, by his own showing, is a public enemy of the United States. Our Consti- 
tution does not protect the property of our enemies. On the contrary, enemy's 
property is all liable to be seized. No man can claim under conflicting and in- 
consistent rights. At common law, and in equity, a party who denies the ob- 
ligatory force of an agreement or compact is estopped from claiming any 
benefits under it. And that which a man cannot claim for himself, no other 
can claim for him. 

Fow, sir, I base the right to liberate the slaves and confiscate the property 
of rebels, the avowed subjects of the confederate States, on the law of nations, 
as a belligent right, and find the power to do it amply vested in Congress bj' the 
Constitution. By it Congress has power "to declare war, ;to make rules con- 
cerning captures on land and water, to raise and support armies, to provide 
and maintain a navy, to make rules for the government of the land and naval 
forces," and " to make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execu- 
tion the foregoing powers." 

Now, Mr. Speaker, by the act of the seceded States, war exists between them 
and the United States. This brings into legitimate action against them all 
the war power-5 of this Government, and the rights which, in accordance with 
the customs and law of nations, may be exercised in times of war. By these 
we have tlie right, if we see fit to use it, to seize sufiicieut of the property of 
the rebels in arms, and their aideis and abettors, to remunerate ourselves for 
''all the losses and expenses of this their most causeless, unjustifiable and wicked 
war. The right extends to the seizure of both public and private property, as 
will appear by the following authorities : 



"A State taking up arm? in a just eanse lias a double right against her enemy. 1. A right 
to obtain possession of her property witlihelU bv the enemy, to wliich must be adiied the ex- 
penses incurre<l in pursuit of that ol))eot, llie cliarges tif tlie war, and reparation of damages. 
2. She lias a right to weal^en her enemy in order to render him ineapal)le of supiiorting his 
unjust violence, a riglit to deprive him of the means of resistance.''— Vuttel'ii Law of'Xaiiom, 
book 3, chap. 9, sec. 160, edition 1857. 

Again : • 

"Whenever we have an opportunity we seize on the enemy's property and convert it to our 
own use."— /Z*., sec. 101. 

Now what is meant by "enemy's pfoperty ?" Yattel answers: 

" Everything which belongs to that nation, to the State, to the sovereign, to the subjects, of 
whatever age or sex, everything of that kind falls under the description of things belonging 
to the enemy. " — Ibid. , cli>a]i 5, see. 73. 

"Towns and lands taken from the enemy are called conquests; all movabla property taken 
from him is called bootv. This booty natiirally belongs to the sovereign niakinir war no leas 
tflan the conquests, for he alone has such claims ag linst the hostile nation as warrant Jiim to 
seize on her property and convert jl to his own use."— /J/ic?., chap. 9, sec. 105. 

Much more to the same effect might be quoted, but time will not permit. 
This is sufiicient to show the right extending to all property of our enemies. I 
am well aware that in modern times this right is seldom exercised to its full 
extent ; but nevertheless the rigUt exists, and may, at the option of the bellig- 
erent, be fully exercised. In confiscating the property only of the leading 
rebels we exercise it but in part. Now, as to t'le right to set the slaves of an 
enemy free, Vattel says : 

" It has been observed that we may be obliged in conscience to restore to a third party the 
booty we may have recovered out of the hands of an enemy, who had taken it fr(>m him in 
an unjust war. The obligation is more certain and extensive with regard to a people whom 
the enemy liad unjustly oppressed. We certainly ouo;ht so to use our victory as not merely to 
give them a new master, but to break their chains. To deliver an oppressed people is a noble 
fruit of victory.'- /i/(V, chap. 1-3, sec. 203. 

To show that the same belligerent rights exist in a civil war as in a war be- 
tween independent nations, I quote again from Vattel : 

'• When a party is formed in a state who no longer obey the sovereign, and are possessed 
of sufficient strength to oppose him, or when a rejiublic is divided into two opposite factions, 
and both sides take up arms, this is a civil war.'' — ]'uUe!, book 3, chap. IS, see. 292. 

'• Those two parties, therefore, must necessarily be considered as constituting two separate 
bndies, two distinct societies. They stand, therefore, precisely in the same predicament as 
two nations who engage in a contest." — Ibid., sec. 293. 

Rose vfi. Himelj', 4 Cranch, 272, and Cheviot vs. Fousat, 3 Binney, 2.t2, main- 
tain tlie doctrine that in cnso of a rebellion, the sovereign possesses both sove- 
reign and belligerent rights, and can act in either character. 

it has been earnestly contended by gentlemen on this floor, learned in the 
law, that because the several secession ordinances of the seceded Slates are 
void, those States are still in the Union ; and as rebels in arms they and their 
propert}' cannot be subject to belligerent rights, but that tliey must be caught 
and tried by a court and a jury of their own seceded States, and of the districts 
wherein the acts of treason were committed. But we know such trial would 
be a farce, and a conviction impossible. This would be making the Constitution 
a shield to protect from all yjunisbment nearly every traitor who has raised 
up his bloody hands for its destruction. But we have seen by the authority 
quoted that we are not thus fettered. 

Another position is taken and insisted on, which is, that exercising against 
the rebels the rights of belligerents would be admitlii:g tlieir right to secede. 
This is simply an absurdity. A body of men can do in fact that which they have 
no right to do. An admission that they have done the unlawful act i^- no acknowl- 
edgment of its being right. And thus the ordinances of secession have con- 
ferred no right upon any of the so-called seceded States to go out of the Union ; 
but they, by force of arms, have gone out iri fact neverthek;ss. They are de 
facto be'lligerent States, and we have a right to treat them, and have all along 
been treating them, as belligerent States; and just so they tire treating us. We 
have, therefore, a right to adopt against them all such mdasures as njay be 
adopted against an3"belligerent States, with the single exeei)tion that we may 
not treat as enemies those citizens residing in the seceded. States who have been 
in no complicity with the rebellion ; and though we treat them as belligerenti, 



8 

■we may, notwithstanding, treat them as traitors also. The remedies are cimiu- 
lative, just as a criminal guilty of two crimes may be proceeded against for 
either or both. 

It is contended that if there are beligerent rights to be exercised against 
the property, and in liberating the slaves of the rebels, the President, as Com- 
mander in Chief of the Army and Navy, is to order and conduct them. The 
difl'erence seems to me unimportant, for if the work is only done. And done so 
effectually and promptly as to speedily crush treason, and restore peace and 
order, I shall rejoice with great joy, be "it ordered and performed by Avhatever 
branch of the Government it may. But the Conftitutiou seems to vest the 
power in Congress rather than in the executive department. It is to Con- 
gress that the power to declare war, to make rules concerning captures, to 
raise and support armies, to ptovide and maintain a navy, to make rules for 
the government and regulation of the land and naval forces, and to make all 
laws for carrying into execution the foregoing powers is committed. Thus the 
powers of Congress seem to be express, while those of the President are only 
implied, from his being Commander-in-Chiefi I have no doubt, Mr. Speaker, 
that it accords with the wishes of the President that Congress should take the 
responsibility of giving an expression of its views on these highly important 
questions. If they accord with those of the President, though it should be 
found that power to act in the matter is in him and not in us, his action in the 
premises will be none the less valid by reason of any bills we may pass on the 
subject. But if he thinks the bills wrong in principle or inexpedient, he will 
of course exercise his constitutional power of vetoing them ; and thus their 
passage can do no harm. And now, Mr. Speaker, having stated my reasons 
for holding : 

1. That there is an overwhelming necessity formaintaining the Union which 
our forefathers formed in its entirety, cost what it may. 

2. That the time has arrived when a military necessity exists for liberating 
the slaves of persistent rebels, and employing some of them as a means of 
crushina; this great rebellion, and thereby preserving the Union ; and that by 
reason of the unjust war which they have commenced against us, we have a 
right to do so. 

3. That we have a right to confiscate the property of rebels to pay the 
expenses of the war, and ought to use it so far as regards the property of 
the principal instigators and leaders of the rebellion, I close my remarks. 



L. T0WEU3 <St CO., PRINTERS. 



